Recommendation:
Ronald McDonald, You're Fired!

Recommendation:
Ronald McDonald, You're Fired!

By David Or on Food.change.org

In a poll conducted for the Value [The] Meal
campaign, it was found that two out of three Americans hold a favorable view of
Ronald McDonald (that's the work of fifty years of branding and over a billion
dollars in advertising each year in the U.S. alone).

Ronald McDonald has had a long career of convincing kids to eat unhealthy
food. Even kids who've never eaten a McNugget in their life are familiar with
the clown. But a new campaign by Corporate Accountability International is
calling on McDonald's to send Ronald into retirement.

Childhood obesity is now recognized as a significant and serious problem.
Marian Wright Edelman's recent column highlights many of the pressing issues and
some of the solutions. But it's not all about personal responsibility.
Corporations need to do their part, and that starts with eliminating advertising
explicitly directed at kids.

In a poll conducted for the Value [The] Meal campaign, it was found that two
out of three Americans hold a favorable view of Ronald McDonald (that's the work
of fifty years of branding and over a billion dollars in advertising each year
in the U.S. alone). But roughly half of people support retiring the clown and
"favor stopping corporations from using cartoons and other children's characters
to sell harmful products to children."

This seems like a no-brainer. I can handle the counter-argument that people
should have the freedom to choose what to eat (that's a whole different story).
But for children, that right should be reserved by their parents. And by
directly marketing to children in places that children frequent, such as the
Internet, schools, libraries, and kid's hospitals, corporations are usurping
that right. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that "advertising directed
toward children is inherently deceptive and exploits children under eight years
of age."

Restricting the use of corporate mascots isn't unprecedented, either —
remember the Marlboro Man, or Joe Camel?

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